105-Year-Old Black Woman Who First Voted in 1964 Casts Early Ballot in Georgia

“I’ve been voting since they let us vote,” Simmons told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).

“I think it is my duty to do it.” Simmons first registered to vote in the summer of 1964, at the age of 47, according to state records, and has voted for 19 presidents, 22 Georgia governors, and countless other politicians, including U.S. senators, county commissioners, and sheriffs.

The Georgia resident was escorted by family members to her polling location to vote and urged those around her to vote as well.

Simmons wasn’t allowed to vote the first time she tried. Born in 1917, Simmons saw firsthand how hard Black people fought to vote before and during the civil rights movement, as they were sprayed by fire hoses, attacked by police dogs and batons, and many sacrificed their own lives.

“She said too many people died and got beat up to (not)go vote,” her eldest son, Simon Simmons, told the AJC.

The majority of older voters in the Peach State rely on absentee ballots. This year, early voting in Georgia set a record after more than 2.5 million residents filled out an absentee or in-person ballot. The state features two tight races, as Sen. Raphael Warnock fights to keep his seat against Herschel Walker and Gov. Brian Kemp is in a 2018 rematch with voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams.

After voting, Simmons chatted with local elections supervisor Joyce Coddington who said she was an example for all Americans to follow. “I thought it was awesome to see,” Coddington said, adding she was impressed by Simmons’ age, determination to vote, and to do so in person.

“It showed that everybody should vote, regardless.”

Simmons’ husband, a minister, passed away in 1987. The two raised 11 children on a small farm in Attapulgus, Georgia, which has fewer than 500 residents today.